Man accused of Det Colm Horkan murder felt ‘hyper’ and ‘elated’ on day of shooting

The man accused of murdering Det Garda Colm Horkan has told his trial that he is diagnosed with two mental disorders, had stopped taking his medication and was living in a shed with no running water in the weeks before the shooting that resulted in the detective’s death.

Stephen Silver took the stand on Wednesday following the close of the prosecution case. He told his counsel, Róisín Lacey SC, that he had considered signing himself in for respite the day before the shooting but on the day of the shooting was feeling “hyper” and “elated” and “it had gone too far”. He said he started “thinking strange things”, such as that an Australian woman he had been seeing was an MI6 agent and that the SAS had planted a bomb under his van.

The court viewed CCTV footage of him looking under his van in the “press-up” position at a car park outside a Dublin hotel earlier that day. He also said he believed that he was a member of the 62nd Cavalry Reserve of the Irish Army and that when he put on a Roscommon hat and a leather waistcoat that he was wearing his Irish Army uniform and was going to “police the streets for Covid”.

Mr Silver (46), a motorbike mechanic from Aughavard, Foxford, Co Mayo, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Det Garda Horkan knowing or being reckless as to whether he was a member of An Garda Síochána acting in accordance with his duty. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, at Castlerea, Co Roscommon, on June 17th, 2020.

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Mr Silver told Ms Lacey that he grew up in Roscommon and trained as a motor mechanic after leaving school following his Junior Certificate exams. He said he had a “long-standing psychiatric history”, having been admitted to psychiatric units 17 times since he was 19 or 20 years old. Some admissions were voluntary, others involuntary, he said, and he had been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder.

The jury heard that Det Garda Horkan had brought Mr Silver to the psychiatric unit on one occasion in 2003. The accused said he remembered the incident but did not remember Det Garda Horkan. He added: “I was very distressed at that time so I wouldn’t remember a lot.”

He was married for about 13 years but split from his wife in February 2020. “We just hadn’t been getting on that well at the time,” he said. He moved to a flat in Foxford but couldn’t afford the rent so he left and moved into a shed he had bought to expand his motorbike mechanic business.

He had been prescribed olanzapine to treat his mental disorders but was not taking his medication.

On the day Det Garda Horkan was shot, Mr Silver recalled that he was getting very talkative. He said he was getting “hyper”, “talking gibberish”.

On his return to Castlerea from Dublin that day, he found out that his old friend James Coyne’s house had been raided by armed gardaí and went to him. They hadn’t seen one another for about 13 years, he said, but they embraced and shook hands.

They decided to go to Mr Silver’s bike repair shop in Foxford but stopped at Castlerea Garda station on the way. Mr Silver said he couldn’t remember what he said to gardaí but had intended to “tell them not to be mistreating James”. He remembered having a “rant” at the garda manning the desk.

Mr Silver will continue his evidence before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven men and five women on Thursday.